Focus on Fundamentals is Key to Web Site Success

Keeping a sharp focus on the fundamental principles of doing business on the Internet is essential to putting a web site on track, according to Jay Higgins, president of Sprintout Internet Services, a web developer and consulting firm specializing in b-to-b solutions.

"The world wide web is so huge and changing so quickly that its easy for companies to be overwhelmed by the hype and the technology," Higgins says. "Most b-to-b companies need to cut through the noise, focus on what their business is about and what their customers need, then bring the two together via the Internet."

Higgins suggests five principles to help inform and direct Internet strategy and web site development efforts.

1. Focus on the Customer
Sounds obvious. But any survey of web sites (and traditional marketing materials, for that matter) will show this is a principle thats often ignored.

The first question to ask: What can I do for my customer on my web site? Educate? Inform? Provide better service? Provide more services? Make buying my products easier, faster, cheaper?

You dont have to get into e-commerce. Its not right for every product and company anyway. Many companies find they can speed and streamline sales and customer service functions via their web sites to improve productivity, build stronger relationships, help the customer and help themselves.

Ask yourself, "Why do customers buy from me now?" How can you strengthen those reasons? How can you help eliminate some of the reasons prospects dont buy now? Identify those problem areas and attack them on the web.

2. Its about Communication, Not Technology
Its easy to get distracted by Internet technology. The media announces a new wave of revolutionary technology at least once a month. But the heart of the Internet and its great value to business are communication. Using the Internet today you can communicate with millions of consumers around the world, plus tens of thousands more each day.

More important for most companies, you can also talk to employees, suppliers and customers around the corner and across the globe. You can transmit text and spreadsheets, images and sound files. And they can talk to you.

Whats the point? Youve got to focus on what your audience wants to hear and what youve got to say that they might listen to. You need to prepare to respond to a possible flood of incoming communication, too. Sure technology plays a role. But technology without a solid message (messages) that meet the needs of your audiences is a car without a driver

3. Write a Plan
The web is sprawling, unruly, changing every day. What you can do on the web expands every day, too. You can do almost anything. The real question is, what makes sense?

Youll never make sense of it if you dont write a plan. Go back to marketing 101. Identify your audiences. Identify your own strengths and weaknesses. Identify your goals and objectives. Determine what resources youll need--personnel, equipment, budget. Write it all down and shape it into a plan that details how youll accomplish your objectives.

Sure the plan will change the moment the battle is joined. But working in the dynamic, distracting world of the web, without a plan youre almost certain to lose your way.

4. Integrate On-Line and Traditional Marketing
Even the most aggressive "dot coms," those virtual companies with no employees, no bricks and mortar and no assets, know that on-line success must be driven by conventional marketing. If youve thought about the customer, recognized the webs prime purpose as communication, and written a plan, you already recognized the synergy between on-line and off-line marketing.

Your web site, your whole Internet strategy and presence, should be a seamless part of your overall business and marketing plans. The customer is the customer, no matter how you reach him or her, and the customer rules. Drive people to your web site with conventional marketing--advertising, public relations, direct mail, collateral materials--then pay them off with the information and services they want and need. Unlike an ad, direct mail piece or company brochure, your web space is virtually unlimited. Make it informative and helpful, and customers and prospects will spend more time there than they ever could or would with an ad, brochure or direct mail piece.

Sure some customers and prospects will find your web site through search engines. But many more wont unless you send them. The most effective way to do that is with traditional marketing communications.

5. Use the Best Tools
Some marketing tools work better than others on the web. One of the best may be one you least expect: information, data you already have about your products, your services, how you do business, what you stand for.

Theres more telling than selling on the web. A typical scenario: A prospect sees your web address in a magazine ad, turns to the computer and types in your URL. Now is your chance to tell your story, more completely, and more compellingly than on the best personal sales call. Why? Because your prospect is there on his or her own. Theyre not resistant, not afraid of being "sold." Tell them all about your products and customer services. They learn what they can expect from you. If they like what they see, youre well on your way to a sale.

If you fail to provide the information they need, or you frustrate them with a hard-to-navigate, confusing site, they will be gone, maybe for good. Self-serving content may be tolerable in a printed brochure. Readers just skim over it. But on a web site its an invitation for the visitor to click that mouse and go away. Use your best tool wisely.

E-mail is another great tool for web marketing. Use it to communicate with prospects (after getting their permission; no spam, please). Use it to keep customers up to date on new products, programs, promotions, order status, shipping, etc. E-mail is fast and inexpensive. If you have relevant information of interest to your audiences, you cant communicate too much.

One other tool that lends itself well to web marketing is public relations. Public relations solves two problems at once. Published PR materials help drive people to your site. They also form a body of fresh material for your site. Fresh content helps raise site visibility with many search engines and it gives visitors a reason to come back again and again.

Developing or upgrading your companys Internet strategy and web site may be the most important thing you do this year. It can be complex because the Internet will effect almost every part of your business sooner or later. The risks may be high, but so is the payoff. Understanding this handful of web fundamentals can put you on target to reap the rewards of this dynamic communications medium.
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Sprintout Internet Services has been in the web development business since 1995. The company has created web sites for more than 50 business-to business clients and currently hosts more than 30 client sites.

For more information on Sprintout Internet please contact: Jay Holtzman, Sprintout Internet Services, 46 Amaral Street, Providence, RI 02915 Phone: 401 421-2264; Fax: 401 421-9460

Email: http://jholtzman@sprintout.com or visit the website: http://www.sprintout.com